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Gannon's Hawaiian senior center Justin Dietz did his version of a Ray Lewis chant and dance before the Knights took on Edinboro, which no Gannon team had beaten before.

"It's the Haka, the Maori people thing from New Zealand,'' the 310-pound Dietz said of the war chant once used by a rugby team. "It's a little gory and whatnot, but I'm saying I'm going to come out and fight to the death.''

That might be a little over the top, but it got results and led to very gory details for the Scots as the Knights scored the final 41 points in a 55-14 PSAC West rout Saturday at Gannon University Field.

If the Haka was not the reason Gannon (4-2, 3-0 PSAC West) beat Edinboro (3-3, 1-2) for the first time in eight meetings, a dominant performance on both sides of the ball certainly was.

Tailback Jansen Jones, another rare senior on the club, had 35 carries for 209 yards and four touchdowns. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Liam Nadler completed 26-of-39 passes for 350 yards and ran for three TDs.

Gannon, with 31 first downs, had a big time of possession advantage overall (39 minutes, 46 seconds to 20:14 for the Scots).

"It felt good, but everything I do is because of those guys on the offensive line,'' Jones said of Dietz, guards Alex Davis and Randy Toth, tackles Matt Andry and Kelson Patterson, and tight end Alex O'Donnell.

"Our offensive line is called the Wolfpack, but we take no credit,'' Dietz said. "Any day our running back has a good game, we feel accomplished.''

Gannon's young defense, with six true freshmen seeing plenty of action, allowed Edinboro's redshirt freshman quarterback Jon Girvin to complete two long passes to Marcus Johnson to set up two touchdowns in the first 16 minutes, then shut down the Scots.

Girvin, starting in the absence of injured senior Cody Harris, would complete just two passes in the second half and finished 9-of-33 for 192 yards. The Scots were hampered, however, after Donnie Mann's 37-yard field goal gave Gannon a 17-14 lead. Johnson returned the ensuing kickoff, was drilled by Tim Petro and fumbled, with Gannon recovering on Edinboro's 29. Nadler hit Abraham Ocasio for 21 yards then went in on a sneak for a 24-14 lead at the half. Johnson, (two receptions, 101 yards) his right arm in a sling, did not play the rest of the game.

Edinboro managed just two first downs and 45 total yards in the second half.

"We did nothing to help any phase of the game,'' lamented Edinboro coach Scott Browning, whose teams won the five previous PSAC meetings. "They did what they wanted to do, and really took us out of the game with their ball control. But early on, when the game was tight, we had a lot of dropped balls and dropped an interception we would have taken back. We didn't make plays when we had the opportunity.''

"We have such confidence in Nick, and we were able to get an extra guy in the box and make No. 19 (Girvin) beat us on one-and-ones,'' Rzyczycki said. "Schematically, we made it a maze, and that's tough for any freshman quarterback to handle.''

Nadler distributed the ball effectively, mixing passes -- Ocasio and Justin Caliste had six receptions each and Jesstin Hamm five -- handing off to Jones, and fooling the defense by running keepers. Jones had a 31-yard touchdown run off the right tackle, and added two short TDs in the second half.

"It's nice for the defense to stay on the sidelines and watch,'' said linebacker Luke Rankie, who had 10 tackles.

Jones reflected on Dietz's pregame antics to psyche-up the Knights.

"He does that little ritual before every game,'' Jones said. "I don't know what he's saying. I don't think anybody does, but that's his little thing to get everybody pumped up. And it paid off."